Muslim youth attacked in Ghaziabad for raping Hindu girl, Islamists peddle "lynching by Hindus for opposing insult of Prophet Mohammad"
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 
8 October, 2024
Case Summary
On October 9, 2024, a video surfaced showing a Muslim youth being beaten in Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, leading to widespread claims on social media that he was attacked by Hindu "extremists" for defending Prophet Mohammad. Various users, particularly from the Muslim community, shared the video, asserting that the youth, identified as Akram, was assaulted alongside his sister for opposing derogatory remarks about the Prophet. Prominent social media handles, such as “Muslim Mirror,” initially spread the narrative that a Muslim youth was lynched by Hindutva extremists, which was further propagated by other journalists and activists, including Wasim Akram Tyagi, who has a history of sharing false information. Many posts inaccurately claimed that the video depicted a brutal attack on a Muslim girl and her brother. One user, Muhammad Afzal, alleged that the video was from Ghaziabad, emphasising that Muslim girls were now also victims of violence due to their opposition to insults against the Prophet. However, the facts surrounding the incident were quite different. The altercation occurred on September 28 in the Dhaulana police station precinct of Hapur. It was revealed that Akram had lured a Hindu girl into a hotel room and sexually assaulted her. When the girl's brothers learned of this, they confronted Akram while he was on his motorcycle with the girl and subsequently beat him. The woman initially reported as Akram’s sister was actually the Hindu girl he had raped. Following the incident, she filed a formal complaint against him, leading to his arrest by local authorities. Hapur’s Additional Superintendent of Police, Vineet Jaiswal stated that the police would pursue legal action against social media users who falsely linked the beating incident to communal issues and an imaginary insult to the Prophet Mohammad.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, the Muslim perpetrator had lured and exploited the Hindu woman in a hotel room. The brother of the woman got enraged and assaulted the Muslim perpetrator. That incident was spun to implicate the Hindu man for assaulting the Muslim perpetrator for 'communal reasons', thereby exonerating the real perpetrator and turning the Hindu into the perpetrator. For that reason, this case is being added to the primary categry 'hate speech against Hindus' and the sub-category 'anti-Hindu subversion or prejudice' and the tertiary category 'anti-Hindu fake news or downplaying'. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Media plays a specific and overarching reach in perpetuating prejudicial attitudes towards a community owing to unfair, untrue coverage and/or misrepresentation/misinterpretation, selective coverage and/or omission of facts of/pertaining to issues affecting a specific religious group. This type of bias can dehumanise the victim group, making it easier for others to justify harmful actions against them, which aligns with the objectives of hate speech laws aimed at preventing such harm. It is often observed that the media takes a prejudicial stand against the Hindu community driven by their need to shield the aggressor community which happens to be a numeric minority, however, is the one perpetrating violence against Hindus. For example, the media is often quick to contextualise religiously motivated crimes against Hindus, omit or misrepresent facts that point towards religiously motivated hate crimes, justify and/or downplay religiously motivated hate crimes or simply present fake news to stereotype Hindus. Such media bias leads to the denial of persecution and is often used to dehumanise Hindus, leading to justification for violence against them. For example, the media covered several fake allegations of Hindus targeting Muslims and forcing them to chant Jai Shree Ram. Most of these cases were proved false and fabricated after police investigation. These fake news reports were subsequently never retracted or clarified. Such fake news led to the justification of violence and dehumanisation of Hindus based on the argument that since Hindus targeted Muslims and forced them to chant Jai Shree Ram, the dehumanisation of Hindus and violence against them was par for the course and merely a retaliation. Such media bias leads to prejudicial portrayal of Hindus and offers a justification for violence against them and therefore, is considered hate speech under this category. The anti-Hindu fake news, blaming the Hindu man of insulting Prophet Mohammad has dangerous repurcussions. There have been several instances when baseless allegations of blasphemy has led to the brutal murder of Hindus. These allegations were made to turn the Muslim perpetrator into a victim and extend his 'victimhood' to the entire community, demonising the Hindu community. The demonisation of the Hindu community is deliberately done to further the narrative that Hindus are persecuting Muslim owing to their religious animosity towards the Muslims, shielding the actual perpetrators of hate crimes and demonising the victim community. For that reason, this case is being considered as one of hate speech against Hindus.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
N/A
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
